Golf-ball.



G. G/WORTHINGTON.

GOLF BALL,

APPLIOATION IE'ILED FEB. 25, 1907.

972,31 0 Patented Oct. 11,1910.

GEORGE C. WORTHINGTON, OF ELYRIA, OHIO.

GOLF-BALL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 25, 1907. Serial No. 359,097. I v

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, GEORGE C. VVURTHING- TON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Elyria, in the county of Lorain and State 5 of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in GolfBalls, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact de; scription.

The object of this invention'is to provide 10 a rubber cored golf ball, of standard size and weight, which will have great carrying and rolling capacity when driven by a hard blow from a golf club. It is my belief that a rubber cored golf ball in order to have great carrying power under hard blowsmust have, somewhere within the core, a suitable amount-of available unfilled space, into which the rubber of the core may temporarily flow when distorted by a hard blow.

All successful rubber cored golf balls, are

so made that this available space is provided, but I believethat the provision of this space is merely an incident to obtaining a ball ,of required weight and size. The

cores f'such golf balls are made either of rubber thread or rubber tapewound under considerable tension. \Vhen the core is made of rubber thread there will of necessity be niuch unfilled space, to wit, the space which of necessity will be left between the threads as the core is wound. A ball whosecore. is made of rubber thread alone will be under weight if it is of the standard size,th'is being due to the fact, above stated, that there is, of necessity, in the core much space between the threads which is not filled by the rubber. In order to supply the deficiency in weight of golf balls in which rubber thread is employed to make the core, it is customary to provide a heavy solid center which gives the required weight,--and the thread is wound thereon.

When rubber cores for golf balls are made of rubber tape there is very little unfilled space. In fact that part of the core which is made of such tape is almost solid rubber. Therefore, in order that the balls may be of standard size and weight, such cores are always formed with a soft light yielding center, which is made of wool, hair and other analogous material. Each of these balls contains within itselfthe necessary space within which the distorted rubber may flow,this space being in the center of the rubber tape ball, and being distributed throughout the core of the rubber thread centrated in the ceuterofi the ball. I

Szhichis deto employ able in the thread ball,.tha t is tosay, the

Patented Oct. iii, 19 16.

.ball. This flowspace is rather more 'availcompressed rubber flows more-easily into it,

and I believe that it is for this' reason that these balls generally fiy farther under a hard blow than the rubber tape balls under 'a blow of like force. It is noticeable, however, that while the rubberthread balls fly farther, the rubber-tape balls will, generally speaking, roll farther after theyhave once struck the ground. This I believe-to be due to the fact that the weight in the rubber; I

tape balls is nearer-"the surface, whereas,fin-

the rubber thread balls-it is pretty well .eon

The present invention is one signedto take advantage of an the. various characteristics above described which produce the great carrying and rolling qualities of the ball. ing the present invention. has a soft yielding center, being.intha-t respect like the tape The ball involv- I wound balls above mentioned, But, th,e

core around this center is madeup for most part of rubber thread,.wound under tension and therefore the ballhasfl that characteristic which is specifically due, as abovestated, to the use of rubber thread and to the consequent provision of ample and well distributed space into which the compressed rubber may flow. In order to give the necessary weight, however, to theball' without increasing the thickness of the shell, the ball herein described is made up so that there are two thread wound parts thereon, one around the other, and between them is a layer of weighted unvulcanized rubber. My numerous experiments with this ball have satisfied me that the most desirable locationfor this weighted rubber layer is about midway between the soft center and the outer coveror shell; but the invention is not-limited to a ball in which this rubber layer is placed in this precise location.

The invention, in what I believe to be the best embodiment thereof, is shown in, the drawing, Wherein-v Figure 1 is a central vertical section of a golf ball embodying my invention; and Fig. 2 is a view of such .ballpartlymutilated and partly sectioned, so as to clearly show the various layers or plies of which it is com posed.

The ball, as shown, includes a center A, which may be made of any suitable light soft easily compressible material. I believe iii) that small fragments of rubber, as for example, pieces of rubber thread or rubber bands compressed into suitable form and held by the rubber thread Wound thereon is the best material to use for this purpese, but wool, hair or any other analogous material may be substituted. Upon this center, which may be about five-eighths of an inch in diameter, a layer or ply B is formed. by suitable windings of rubber tl'iread under tension. The tension employed, however, should not be extreme, I have found the best results to be obtained if the rubber threads composing this layer be stretched so that this part of the core is rather loose. Upon the spherical body formed by the center A and thread layer B, I secure a layer C of Weighted unvulcanized rnbber,--that is to say, this layer is made of sheet rubber laid on as evenly as possible and made heavy by the addition thereto of a suitable heavy mineral powder, as, for example and preferably, the

- red oxid of mercury, This layer adds to the elasticity oi? the ball somewhat. it supplies the necessary weight to bring the ball to the standard weight when. it is also of the standard size, and it also serves. to imprison. beyond the pUSSilJlllfY of escape all. of the air in the spaces nee :sarily stent in the inclosed part of the core, namel the center A and layer ll. The core is coi'nplcted by winding upon the layer 1.) rubber thread wound under very much greater tension than the thread in layer B. y

The cover E may be of the commonly employedmaterial, and may be secured theremanner and by sion, and a shell or cover secured upon the core so formed. Y

A golf ball comprising a soft and yielding center, a spherical layer thereon made up of rubber thread Wound under no Very great tension, a layer of weighted unvul? canizecl rubber embracing the threaded layer referred to, another layer, external to the weighted rubber layer, and made up of rubber thread wound under greater tension than the other thread layer, and a shell or cover secured upon the core so formed.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE C. WORTHING"ON.-

l). L. TI-IURSTON, E. B. txinoi-imsrr. 

